A very healthy crowd turned out for last night's debate: 2012 Wishlist: What Do You Want For London? An impressive and diverse list of contributors found itself dealing with some of the fundamental questions regarding the future of London's built environment.

The evening was prefaced by pollster Ben Page of MORI/IPSOS telling us what Londoners think about their city. We are conservativ... Read MorePosted by: Kieran Long on 24/06/07

watch the debates in the videos section

The debates are now up and running, but if you were unlucky enough to miss the two so far, you can watch highlights in our Videos section.... Read MorePosted by: Kieran Long on 24/06/07

was ours a united panel?

Last night's opening debate, Is London A United City?, was a great kick-off to Debate London. The panelists—Boris Johnson, Neal Lawson, Lynsey Hanley, Ivan Massow, Tony Travers and Emma Peters—presented a diverse and largely bifurcated set of views addressing the rampant economic inequality that has ... Read MorePosted by: Jaffer Kolb on 23/06/07

we need to reassess new architecture in london

Financial Times critic Edwin Heathcote has just sent us this a striking indictment of new architecture in London. From Palimpsests to the superficiality of green architecture, few large-scale developments escape the criticisms levelled at a generation of architecture that both ignores and refuse... Read MorePosted by: Jaffer Kolb on 21/06/07

pragmatism and the smoking ban

There's an interesting debate surrounding banning outdoor heaters in light of July 1's smoking ban. Ken Livingstone has just weighed in, agreeing with Friends of the Earth that the devices are "pl... Read MorePosted by: Jaffer Kolb on 21/06/07

fighting for visibility

Developing the South Bank of the Thames continues to spark considerable debate for Londoners. Rob Gregory has written us a helpful reminder of what London's south side is and what it can be, without looking north for inspriation and validation. He outlines some of the more contentious developmen... Read MorePosted by: Jaffer Kolb on 21/06/07

read the articles

We are now just one day away from the first debate at Tate Modern, but before that, do take a few minutes to check out the brilliant articles section, which is now chock full of opinion on subjects from planning to the Read MorePosted by: Kieran Long on 20/06/07

building better communities?

On June 14, the government-sponsored Commission on Integration and Cohesion(CIC) published this report, ten years after New Labour established the Social Exclusion Unit and first began waving the banner of cohesion. Interestingly, the report sit... Read MorePosted by: Jaffer Kolb on 20/06/07

the value of bureaucracy

Isabel Allen, former editor of The Architects' Journal, has written for us a thoughtful, funny description of the woes of building in London. Planning permissions, English Heritage, and community groups represent only some of the treacherou... Read MorePosted by: Jaffer Kolb on 20/06/07

the city in numbers

Coinciding with Debate London, The Evening Standard put together a poll asking almost 2000 Londoners about prominent issues facing life in the city. The results were released earlier this week, and on Monday Channel 4 published Read MorePosted by: Jaffer Kolb on 20/06/07

the young gourmands of islington

Today the Guardian ran this piece on the pairing of the Duke of Cambridge, an Islington-based gastro-pub and the local Thornhill primary school. While few out there are convinced of the nutrition and general quality of school dinners, it's hard to imagine this is what Jamie Oliver had in mind with hi... Read MorePosted by: Jaffer Kolb on 18/06/07

housing estates, anti-social behaviour and architecture

Alex Ely, architect and housing expert, has written a very personal article for us about the Marquess Estate in north London. He lives there, and he starts with a story about a joyrider smashing into his front garden before going into a subtle analysis of the perils of new housing in London. Will w... Read MorePosted by: Kieran Long on 15/06/07

the olympic legacy and its discontents

This morning saw the second Debate London breakfast take place at the Evening Standard's offices in Kensington. It was a great morning, with David Higgins, chief executive of the Olympic Delivery Authority, addressing a distinguished audience on the development of the Olympic park in Stratford. Also, there were fantastic contributions from Rod Sheard, of HOK Sport Architecture (who is designing th... Read MorePosted by: Kieran Long on 15/06/07

why north is north and south is south

Cab drivers may not like going south of the river, but luckily for us, Julian Lewis of East Architects does. He has written a thought-provoking piece for Debate London that finally explains why north and south feel so... Read MorePosted by: Kieran Long on 14/06/07

london has the worst public spaces west of latvia

So says Richard Rogers, Ken Livingstone's design czar, and architect of the Pompidou Centre and the Millennium Dome. He was speaking at a lunch today at Somerset House, hosted by the mayor's Design for London agency, which is responsible for planning the future of London's physical fabric. Rogers was predicting a sea-change in the way public spaces are designed in the next decade.
Design for Lond... Read MorePosted by: Kieran Long on 13/06/07

our new olympic logo

Being commissioned to designing a logo for the Olympic Games must be one of the most poisoned of chalices for any graphic designer. But branding agency Wolff Olins has provoked a storm of public protest over its jagged, abstract logo for London's 2012 games.

Does anyone out there like it? There is already a... Read MorePosted by: Kieran Long on 05/06/07

the people's republic of london

This column is like a pub conversation taken too far, but James Harding of the Times did it anyway. In this article he argues that London should be given independence from the rest of the UK. He writes: “Londoners give the provinces much more than the provinces give Londoners. The capital generates... Read MorePosted by: Kieran Long on 30/05/07